


Divided We Fall

by kelex



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 07:12:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/897373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam has a couple of bad dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Divided We Fall

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to endlesscharade for listening to me ramble and helping me figure out a way out of the corner I'd written myself into. Love you, doll.

Dean's eyes glowed viciously yellow as he smiled benignly at Sam. "Everything and everyone you love, Sammy. All mine. Body and soul." His eyes were almost serpentine, and when his tongue snaked out to lick his lips, Sam was nearly certain the demon's tongue was forked. 

"Mommy and pretty, soft little Jessica. Big, strong Daddy and now, big brother." Dean's fingers flexed, and he raised his arm to examine the twitching digits. "He's fighting me," the Demon said conversationally. "More than your father ever did. You see, I told him all the things I'm going to do to you before I possess you. You should hear him; does he kiss you with that mouth?" An amused smile that was all Dean, down to the core. "That's how I got to him, you know. You're the chink in his armor, Sammy. He loves you and feels guilty for ruining your life, and now he's mine. He loves you, and that's his downfall, because he'll do anything for you, no matter how irrational." 

A blink of those hideous yellow eyes, and the Demon leaned forward. "Give us a kiss, Sam."

"NO!"

-=-=-

"NO!"

Sam woke himself up screaming. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could barely breathe around it. 

Slowly he became aware of the fact that he was wheezing like a panicked asthmatic, and of a warm hand rubbing calming circles on his tight chest. 

"Hey, Sammy. That's it, bro. Breathe deep. Suck it down slow, okay?" Dean was perched on the edge of Sam's bed, green-- _GREEN!_ \--eyes wide with worry and fear. 

Sam gave a choked sob of relief. "Dream," he got out between slow breaths, bringing his hand up to rub his face and the back of his neck.

"One of those Shining types, or the one-too-many-burritos-before-bedtime types?" Dean asked, slowing the comforting rubs as he felt Sam's hammering pulse start to calm 

"Not sure," Sam finally answered, considering as carefully as he was able. "The Demon... it was in you." He shut his eyes tightly. "It said it was going to destroy everyone that I love, including you. And that it could get to you because you're like Dad and do stupid shit when I'm around."

Dean tried to look offended. "Hey. I don't do stupid shit." He pulled Sam's head onto his shoulder, still holding him close. 

"Yeah, you do, but it's okay. You're my brother and I love you anyway." Sam smiled at the disgusted noise that Dean made. 

"Yeah, yeah, thank you, Dr. Phil. Go back to sleep, Sammy." 

"It's Sam," he protested, as always, but let himself slowly scoot back down to lay flat on the mattress, pillows arranged--by Dean, he noticed after the fact--just the way he liked them. "Goodnight, Dean."

"Night, Sammy." Dean waited until Sam's eyes were closed, and his breathing regular, before he turned out the light between the beds.

\- = - 

"Ssssssssaaaaaam." The hiss of his name was raspy and harsh, and Sam nearly didn't hear it at first. He opened his eyes after a moment, hands rubbing his face to wipe the sleep away, and froze. Something moved in the dark rafters of the ceiling where nothing should've been. 

He reached over and flicked on the little ratty table lamp, and then screamed again. "Dean!"

His brother was pinned to the ceiling, a ragged gash opening his midsection, arms and legs twisted at unnatural angles as glassy eyes stared down at the bed. "Sssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaam."

"Dean, no!" Before Sam could jump out of the bed, reach up, do anything, flames started to lick out of the gash in Dean's stomach, then spread across the ceiling, engulfing everything in fire. 

Instead of the hiss-crackle-pop-roar of the flames, a deep voice hissed in Sam's ear. "Everything and everyone you love, Sammy. Everything and everyone."

Sam's head snapped to the side to see the demonized version of his brother, yellow eyes and forked tongues, crouched on the bed beside him. 

"Give me my brother back!" Sam launched himself at the demon, huge hands wrapping around Dean's throat and starting to choke him. 

\- = - = -

"I'm sorry about this, Sammy," was the next thing Sam heard before he fell backwards, hitting the bed and then the floor. 

Cursing to himself, Sam dragged himself up to his knees, only to be hit in the face by a dash of cold water. He shook it off, shoving dripping bangs out of his eyes as he blinked and got to his feet, looking around wildly for the demon.

"The hell?" Dean looked at the bottle of holy water in his hand, and tossed it over his shoulder. "Okay, we're getting a new batch of _that_ next town we stop in," he muttered to himself and crouched down, waiting for another attack. "Sammy?"

"Dean?" The water on his face was cold and felt like rain as it slid down his cheeks from his hair. The dull drip-thud of it pooling on the carpet, the coolness of recycled air-conditioning hit him a second later. He looked around, eyes wide. No flame, no fire, nothing but red finger-marks around Dean's throat. "Dean!"

"The hell's gotten into you, man?" Dean slowly straightened, rubbing his throat and warily approaching his brother. 

"I... um. I had another dream, man. The demon. You... you were on the ceiling. Like Mom. Like Jess. And there was a fire. And then... he was _you._ Taunting me." Sam was trying to shake the fuzz out of his head. "Dean."

"Let me guess. You tried to choke him to death, only you choked me because you thought I was him. Great. Thanks." Dean glared at his brother, but he couldn't be anything other than seriously worried. It was times like this that Dean really wished their father were still around, but there wasn't much help a gravestone could give them right now. "Wait, what the hell are you doing?" 

Sam had jumped to his feet, and he was cramming things into his bag. "I'm not gonna stay, Dean. Not if it's after you. This thing's already taken Mom, and Dad, and Jess... I can't let it take you too. You're all I got left, and I can't lose you."

"Dude, you're not." Dean got up and yanked the bag out of Sam's hand, throwing it angrily to the ground. "You're not going to go out alone and hunt this demon down, because that's exactly what it wants. Divide and conquer. It divided us from Dad, and it got him. I took you away from Jess, and it got her. It can't get you _or_ me if we're together, Sammy, and it _knows_ it. It's afraid of the Winchester brothers, but it's not afraid of just Dean and just Sam." He grabbed Sam's face, making his little brother look at him. "You let this thing separate us, and we're both dead."

Sam swallowed hard as he looked down at Dean. "What if you're wrong? What if it kills you to get to me?"

"If I'm wrong, then I die and it wins." Dean gave a shrug. "And what if I'm right? What if you walk out that door and pick up the newspaper tomorrow and find out that there was a fire at this motel and somebody in room 119 died in that fire, huh?"

Sam brought his hands up and squeezed Dean's wrists almost painfully. "What do I do, Dean?"

"You stay with your family," Dean answered without hesitating. "I told you before, nothing bad is going to happen to you as long as I'm here to stop it. And if I have to stop every demon in hell to protect you, then I'm gonna do it, and not this thing or anything else is gonna stop me. Because we're a team, Sammy. You and me, Sam and Dean, nothing can get in the way of the Winchester brothers, and if it does, we kill it. Simple as that."

Sam's hands clenched tighter on Dean's arms, and nodded quietly. "Okay." 

"Good." A deep breath. "Go hit the shower, and I'll pack up everything and we'll head out now, since we're both up. I think there's a Dunkin' Donuts on the way to the interstate, because I'm dyin' for a good cup of coffee."

"Dean..." Sam looked at his brother, but Dean already had his back to him, digging in the dresser for the laptop case. 

"I'm not gonna hug you, Sam. So don't ask." 

That got a half-smile out of him. Sometimes having Dean Winchester for a brother paid off.

The End


End file.
